The Leaky Bucket Nonprofit Blog

Yahoo, it's the end of the year! Let's all go bananas with our year-end campaigns!!!! Why not? You do it every year, right? So that means you should keep on doing it, um, er, right? You are being a good nonprofit leader. Aren't you?

This posting is about the tin-cup mentality, and my strong desire to get rid of it once and for all. The tin-cup mentality is the state of mind that says "We're a poor lowly charity! Give us your money because we need it!" Rather than signalling your value to the world, or inviting others to celebrate your triumphs, the tin-cup mentality emphasizes your neediness. Shouting about how poor you are does not inspire confidence among philanthropists, who are your investors. Who wants to make a bad investment? It also gives rise to a terrible fundraising habit, namely, "Let's raise whatever we can and then figure out how to spend it."